Basketball: Monty his old self, minus stamina

I visited with Mike Montgomery at his office for a few minutes today and here’s how I know he is getting back to normal.

When I remarked that he looks good, he shot back, “Compared to what?”

When Monty has the sarcasm going, you know that good health is returning.

He was on campus Wednesday — one week after still unspecified surgery — to meet with a few players in his office and conduct some routine business. He won’t be on the practice floor until perhaps Thursday, at which point he said he’d be mostly watching from a chair.

He said he feels good and he was smiling when he said it.

“I don’t have a lot of energy right now,” he said. “But it’s a long season.”

Again, he declined to provide specifics about the reason for his surgery.

Montgomery is scheduled to attend Friday’s Pac-12 media day in Los Angeles and will be at Haas Pavilion on Sunday for the Bears’ free open practice (11 a.m. to 2 p.m.).

The Bears face UC San Diego in an exhibition game Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Haas.

Jeff Faraudo

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What a treasure that man is! I don’t feel that Cal fans yet realize what a stroke of luck/good fortune it is to have such a great coach at the helm.

There have been more great games played-as-a-team in his three first years at Cal than I think I saw in all the games I have witnessed from 1978/9 through 2007/8 (and that means all the home games and many televised road games during the tenures of Kuchen, Campanelli, Bozeman, and Braun combined).

CalBearister99

I hated Monty with a passion for so many years, but now love him. Yeah, I’m a hypocrite. But the dude rocks.

JimBob

You’re not a hypocrite – just more intelligent. And remember, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean someone’s not out to get you.

rollonubears

If we can keep him healthy, and he’d like to coach here for another 15 years, he’ll go to the hall of fame as a bear.

Mike Montgomery is truly a college coaching genius and this season’s campaign should further boost his reputation. Jorge, if improved even a tad (shooting), should contend for P12-POY and Crabbe may lead the league in scoring. Defense and rebounding, as usual, will be the keys to the season and a possible championship as I don’t see this team stalling on offense too often. I also would not be surprised at all if at least a pair of the newcomers (Cobbs, Rossi, Thurman, Behrens, Kravish…) make a major contribution. Get well Monty and Go Bears!

Uh Huh!

CalBearister99: You mean to say, “You respected Monty so much that you hated when you team had to play against him,” right?

Rollon – I believe that any accolade Monty receives in retirement will be Stanford based. Unless he were to win a National Championship – or go to a couple-three Final Fours. However, to do that, he’ll need to learn how to recruit. No, he KNOWS how – he’ll need to SUCCEED at it. There are other great coaches that already do what Monty does, PLUS recruit top talent – and not just RECRUIT top talent, but LAND top talent. Therefore, don’t even think about the Hall of Fame. Those are the coaches who are perennially in the Elite Eight, Final Four, National Championship games. Those are the Hall of Fame coaches. Don’t get me wrong. Monty is a great coach – but not a great recruiter – and thus not a Hall of Famer. He just won’t stand out amongst his peers enough when it comes to voting. That’s okay. We can still enjoy him!!!!

See you Tuesday?

milo

Go Monty! Go Bears!

Really looking forward to the season. Lets hope the bench provides real depth. That would do a lot.

Yoda

There really aren’t a lot of other coaches that do what Monty does. A handful of guys in college ball coach the game as well as he does. If he or his staff could up the recruiting a bit (and if Cal could upgrade its practice facility and hoops budget a bit it would help) he could build this program into a national contender.

As it is, his teams are so solid fundamentally that it’s a pleasure to watch them play.